ESPN Has UCLA Football At #11 In Their Preseason Power Rankings
ESPN, which has predicted UCLA Football to win the South Division, has the Bruins at #11 in their preseason power rankings.
There seems to be a general consensus in regards to UCLA Football and where they should be ranked in the preseaon polls. Two weeks ago, the Amway Coaches Poll had the Bruins ranked 14th in their preseason poll while the Sports Illustared had UCLA Football in the same position. Today, ESPN came out with their preseason power rankings and had the Bruins at #11.
RELATED: ESPN Picks UCLA Football To Win The South Division
Oregon and USC are a head of the Bruins at #6 and #7 respectively. Behind the Bruins are #16 Stanford, #17 Arizona State and #18 Arizona.
Like many critics of the Bruins, ESPN believes that the defense, O-line and last season’s Pac-12 leading rusher Paul Perkins will have to lead the team because of the inexperience at quarterback.
UCLA Bruins
“Jim Mora has methodically built UCLA into a perennial contender-and this could be his best squad yet.” But then the preview goes on to state, “The lone exception is at QB. Three-year starter Brett Hundley is off to the NFL, and true frosh Josh Rosen looks poised to win the starting job. At least the newbie will have time to work out the kinks”.
True, and although several writers covering the UCLA Football team agree, including us at Go Joe Bruin, but unless you have seen Rosen in person, you know that he is a notch higher than most true freshmen QBs.
As far as the outlook, ESPN favors UCLA in all but two of their games. Like many of us at GJB, they predict the Bruins to go 10-2 in the regular season while projecting 9.4 wins. Many of us here have UCLA losing to Stanford and Utah, yet ESPN has the Bruins as underdogs to Stanford and USC with a 49.1% and 42.6% chance to win each game, respectively.
Stay with Go Joe Bruin as we continue to cover UCLA Football throughout the preseason.
Next: Does UCLA Really Have a QB Dilemma?